1. Technical Field
This document relates to methods and materials involved in identifying mammals having a latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). For example, this document relates to methods and materials for using enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (abbreviated herein as ELISpot, Elispot, or ELISPOT) assays to identify mammals having a LTBI.
2. Background Information
Tuberculosis (TB) is important because it disproportionately affects minorities and immigrants in the United States and vast populations around the world. Accurate detection of LTBI continues to be challenging, and undiagnosed LTBI patients can progress to active TB disease with potentially devastating consequences. Interpretation of discordant testing (e.g., tuberculin skin tests (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) in LTBI also can be a significant problem. Both TST and IGRA tests usually detect T-cell activation against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but they do not appear to differentiate patients with dormant forms of TB infection from the ones who have cleared their infections.